Don't expect much in the way of pre-Code titillation with this simple film adapted from a play. What you do get is a starring vehicle for Barbara Stanwyck, who plays the moll of a gang who robs banks.After being apprehended, she is sent to San Quentin, where she learns to live with prison rules and the social structure there. She's a tough cookie, always looking to assert herself, even on her first day of captivity.Except for the presence of guards, life as depicted in the women's prison is much like "Stage Door", with a leisurely, genial attitude. Comic touches abound in this film, like the scene where one inmate sings to a headshot of Joe E. Brown, of all people.While Stanwyck is strong in her role and Preston Foster is solid in his briefer portrayal of the revivalist who never gives up on her, "Ladies They Talk About" has a story too simple to challenge the viewer or, for that matter, the actors themselves. And the drama is minimal.But it's fun to see Stanwyck in one of her earlier films.

Though produced by Warner Bros. at the dawn of the 1930s, this women's prison picture is not much of a social issue drama. Ladies They Talk About (1933) often feels more like a dark comedy than anything else. Barbara Stanwyck plays a tough-talking bank robber who falls for a crusading religious man. He falls for her too, but her past doesn't stop him from having her tossed into the slammer for five years.The plot and love story are mostly bunk. The highlights of the film are the examination of life inside the prison, the way all of these women interact. Unfortunately, the film is marred by unpleasant racial stereotyping and an ending which does not ring true. Stankwyck fans and lovers of pre-code will dig this though.

Good; but not great, role for Stanwyck. The producers erred in one major way with the making of this film, in that they made it in 1933, and the new prison for women in CA. had opened in 1932 at Tehachapi, so whoever was responsible for the story was not paying much attention to the timeline or the news of those days and times. Otherwise good film-what can I say? I am a nit-pick and like to research the making of films that I enjoy watching.To be truly forthright the only reason I chose to research this one is because I recently watched (again!) "I Want to Live" with the great Susan Hayward and that was a true story that took place in the 1950's about Barbara Graham who was executed in San Quentin, but resided at Tehachapi until the day before her execution, when she was transported to San Quentin for execution the following night. Therefore, I was not even aware that they had ever even housed female inmates at San Quentin; thus I was moved to research how correct this film was.

Is this a great film? Not in the least, it was simply too short. But what actually makes it a good film are the supporting characters such as Lillian Roth as Linda, DeWitt Jennings as Detective Tracy (Incredible that that he was not credited because his scenes were paramount to the picture (Spoilers: He was the one who caught Nan Taylor (Barbara Stanwyck)in the first place, and he let Nan go, when he knew Nan shot David Slade (Preston Foster)), and "Sister" Susie (Dorothy Burgess). She was the main villain in the film, and she was in my favorite scene when she framed Nan for a letter, and Nan punched her out Cagney Style. On to Stanwyck, if anyone has seen her films before: "The Lady Eve", "The Mad Miss Manton", "Ball of Fire" "Golden Boy", "The Furies", and of course, "Baby Face", just to name a few, know that Barbara is not the kind of woman to bring home to mother, and there some kind of repercussions involved for being with her, and these were not addressed in this film. Most notably Spade speaking out against politicians and newspapers. Does anyone think they would not say something about him being involved with (And eventually marrying) a felon? That is what almost cost Courtland Trenholm (George Brent) his life in "Baby Face" or Professor Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper) his life work in "Ball of Fire", and most notably, Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) who lost everything he had because of Phyllis Dietrichson in "Double Indemnity", being involved with a Stanwyck character. Perhaps the best line about a Stanwyck character was concerning "Sugarpuss" Katherine O'Shea in "Ball of Fire" who Miss Bragg (Kathleen Howard)referred to as the "Kind of woman who causes the destruction of entire civilizations." I would have liked to see Nan and Spade deal with the issues involved with their relationship. Not just the end where (Spoilers ahead) When he announces they are getting married and her response was "well, he said so, didn't he!!". As well as the final scene where Linda and the other prisoners read about their wedding in the paper. 7/10 stars.